


Fire & Ice

by blainedarling



Category: Glee
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-13
Updated: 2014-05-13
Packaged: 2018-01-24 15:22:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1609904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blainedarling/pseuds/blainedarling
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prince Blaine may not be destined to be the King of Arrendelle, but that does not mean he won’t be the one to save it..</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fire & Ice

The floor was cool underneath Blaine’s feet as he padded across the room towards his sister’s bed, lit by the rays coming through the gap in the curtains. He’d been up for close to an hour, even though he knew it couldn’t be any more than one or maybe two in the morning, sitting by the wide windows and watching the swirls of blues, greens, and purples streak the sky. His mother loved them too, she’d been the one to teach him of the  _aurora borealis_ , which would appear over the towers of their castle intermittently over the course of the year. But his mother would be angry if he were to go through to her bedroom in the middle of the night, and reveal that he was not asleep as he should be. 

Which was why he hauled himself up onto Rachel’s bed, instead, after his time at the window, tongue stuck out in concentration as he struggled with the blankets that draped down over the side. He let out a huff as he made it to the top of the everest, poking Rachel’s sleeping form impatiently.

“Rachel,” he hissed, as she made no move as if to stir, punctuating it with another jab.   
“Blaine,” she whined, persistently keeping her eyes closed. “Go back to sleep.” She made as if to roll over and push him off, but Blaine, while younger, was a little stronger still and kept her pinned where she was. 

“I can’t sleep,” he sighed dramatically, flopping down onto the bed next to her with his limbs spread out like a starfish. “The sky’s awake, so  _I’m_  awake.”  
Rachel hummed, her eyes already drooping closed once more, breath evening out to soft puffs of air against Blaine’s cheek. 

He frowned, clicking his tongue off the backs of his teeth, an idea turning on his mind for the best way to get his sister out of bed. “Do you wanna build a snowman?” he whispered conspiratorially, and the sleeping lump let out a giggle. 

Rachel made them pull on their slippers before they went down to the great hall, warning him that his toes would only get colder once they were there. Blaine rolled his eyes and pouted, pushing his curls out of his face, but slipped his feet into them all the same, knowing that he would do anything he had to if it meant Rachel would create the snow flurries for them.

It was their little secret - of course their parents knew she had the powers, but they didn’t know she used them. Not as frequently as she did, anyway. Blaine had tried too, for a long time, pointing his hands out towards the ground with a frown etched into his features, willing something,  _anything_ , to materialize out of the tips of his fingers as Rachel could do. 

Rachel had watched him carefully, wrapping an arm around him when he gave up in defeat and whispering a promise that Blaine would always have powers because he would always have  _her._

The first sparkle that exploded over the great hall let out a noise that echoed off the ceiling, bouncing back down to them with the second. Piles of snow appeared left, right, and centre, Blaine squealing as he ran to start rolling it, careful not to trip over on the slippery ground. 

Their laughter and shouts of exultation died down after a while, Blaine absentmindedly patting the top of his snowman, Rachel sitting a little ways off drawing patterns into the snow. He scrambled to his feet, clambering to the top of one of the snow piles, looking down to his sister.

“Catch me!” He yelled with a cry, leaping into the air. He wasn’t scared, knew that Rachel would be up on her feet and creating a new pile for him to land on by the time gravity would start to pull him down again. 

He was right, each new pile landing perfectly in time for his foot to grace the top, hopping around the hall, laughter spilling from his mouth.   
“Blaine, slow down!” Rachel cried helplessly; but over the flakes of snow fluttering up around him and the sound of his own giggles, he couldn’t hear her, let alone slow down at the rate he was going.

Blaine leaped forward again, startling as something cold grazed the side of his head. Temporarily distracted, he didn’t even notice that there was no new pile ready beneath his feet, his little frame tumbling down into the thin layer of snow. He heard his name being called, frantic, hands over his head, a frozen veil settling over his skin.

*

It was the cold that awoke Blaine next, a goosebump raising breeze from the window that was cracked ajar hitting the tip of his toe that was poking out of the blankets. Blaine raised a hand to his head, as if there were something there - some bruise, some injury that he should be able to recall.

But his hand met smooth skin and the slightly rough texture of his curls; the only notable difference one bit of hair that felt definitively silky compared to the rest. He turned his face towards the nightstand, the small mirror there reflecting his face. A streak of white through his black curls, but as he looked at it, it was as if it must really have been there all along.

The quiet was what Blaine noticed next, a quiet he would come to be used to in the years that followed, one that seemed to haunt his memories of his childhood. But it fell over those memories almost like a dream, a blanket covering something that had been buried far below. 

The years passed in a steady, almost monotonous rhythm from that fateful day for the young Prince Blaine. But it was not for one so spirited and young to grow bored with that monotony, even if he always wished for something new, something to break into the relentless pattern that came day in and day out. 

Rachel’s door remained closed to him, although it didn’t stop him in his efforts to regain a sisterly love that he felt he must have at one stage known. Not the promise of a summer’s day spent in the gardens with a picnic, nor the suggestion of building a snowman when the first flakes fell, could tempt his sister out of her room when it wasn’t required of her.

That was not to say she did not venture out from there, for meal times and the like. But she spoke not a word to Blaine, and rarely one to her parents in those times either, although the younger royal of Arrendelle had heard hushed discussions coming from Rachel’s bedroom with his mother and father.

More things he was not privy to, more secrets that had been deemed, on his behalf, as not suitable for such innocent ears. Blaine didn’t want to be treated like a glass figurine, no more than he wanted to upset or distress his parents.

It was long nights spent with his sheets propped up above his head that led to his decision to escape into the town. He wouldn’t go far, nor for long, but he needed to see beyond the front walls of the castle, to know what existed out there, beyond the figures and shapes he could make out from the windows in the upper floors of the castle. 

He kept his cloak wrapped tightly around his shoulders in the dawn of that morning when he slipped out of the front gates, following under the shadow of the morning deliveries leaving the grounds. Dawn in the castle was quiet, unsurprisingly, the people just slowly stirring to life in their own time.

But not so was it in the town of Arrendelle, with the tradesmen setting up in the market square, the red, blue, and green tops of the stalls like flags as they billowed in the window. Blaine nearly tripped over his own feet in his excitement, ankles tipping into the cobblestones that his little legs weren’t used to clambering over. 

He went dashing under the taller men and women’s legs, going almost unnoticed in the bustle that he was quickly learning to love. He paused only when he went careering into someone who was only a little taller than him, a thousand apologies falling from his lips. 

Blaine looked up, the boy’s piercing green eyes blinking down at him, his sandy locks poking out of the bottom of a woolen hat. The small reindeer by his side huffed, nosing forward at Blaine’s cloak, as if he might be hiding some food in there.

Blaine giggled, patting his nose affectionately until he caught the suspicious glare that the boy, his owner he presumed, was sending his way. He pulled his hand back, stuffing it under his cloak and turned to continue in his exploration.

Except behind him was the royal guard, his stuffing of the bed with various pillows apparently not good enough of a disguise for him to sneak away. He was dragged back to the castle not kicking and screaming, but silent and pensive. 

And so ended Blaine’s forays into the world outside of the castle. Perhaps not just due to his failed expedition, but as much from the tragedy he faced some months later, a simple piece of paper all the justice he was given towards his parents’ overturned ship. 

Even then, Rachel’s door remained as stubbornly closed as ever. Blaine sat there for what felt like days, his fists bounding at the wood, fat tears streaming down his cheeks and into the collar of his sweater, screaming at her until he was hoarse and he had no voice left to cry out with at all.

*

Blaine was very aware that his hand was asleep; just as the rest of him had been only some short time before, woken by the persistent and uncomfortable feeling shooting down his wrist thanks to the hand that was stuffed under the pillow that his face was buried in.

The persistence was added to by a knocking at the door that seemed equally disinclined to go away, the soft sound of his name being called through the closed door. He dragged his hand out, with a groan. 

_First things first._

“Yes?” he called out groggily as he tried to prop himself up onto his elbows, his dead hand sending him flopping back down again.   
“Prince Blaine, I just wanted to suggest it might be time to get dressed. The gates will be opening soon and with that lots of people demanding your time and attention, I’m afraid.”  
“Oh, I’m…” Blaine trailed off, smacking his lips together, eyelids drooping again. “I’ve been awake for hours! Practically dressed, in fact.” 

There was a silence for a moment, Blaine’s head still too foggy to comprehend exactly what he was supposed to be getting dressed for. “Could you, perhaps, remind me what it is that’s happening today?” he asked sweetly, accompanied with a drawn out yawn. “Seems to have slipped my mind.”

“The coronation, Prince Blaine?”  
Blaine hummed in acknowledgement, body finally coming to a sitting position, his eyes opening to see the forest green suit waiting for him on a mannequin in the corner of the room. “The coronation.”

Coronation day. The official day of celebration, in which the new King or, as in this case, Queen of Arrendelle would be crowned. A day in which the townspeople and those from beyond would be brought into the castle, for a day of festivities, of banquets, of dancing.

Blaine squeaked, the realisation like a bolt of lightning to his system, and he toppled out of bed from the force of it, his body aching for the soft material that had been fitted meticulously to his compact frame. 

At seventeen, he would not yet have been eligible to become the next King, and it was something that in all honesty he was grateful for. While Rachel’s reclusive nature had raised some causes for concern, initially, it had quickly been agreed that she had a better head for the people, where Blaine could idly spend hours in the ballroom toying with the keys of the grand piano. Blaine couldn’t imagine bearing the burden and responsibilities that would come with being King - not yet, and perhaps not ever. 

The gates opened mid-morning, in time for Rachel to be taken through town, greeting people as she went, to the cathedral on the hillside where she would be officially crowned. Blaine had been given just one, strict instruction - no wandering off before the ceremony.

It wasn’t really wandering off, he reasoned as he deviated from the official path through the town, greeting the woman behind the fruit stand at the market and handing her a coin as he helped himself to an apple, turning the corner into the next part of the town.

Blaine moved towards the docks, hoping to perhaps even dip a toe into the sea before he would have to rejoin the parade, lest he end up in even more trouble than usual. He didn’t see the tall, light haired teenager watching him from the other side of the small street, a carrot chomping reindeer by his side. 

No, Blaine was too entranced by the crystalized blue of the water, lapping at the sides of the docks, the apple core landing safely into the nearby undergrowth as he peered closer. He lost his footing, so mesmerized by something that should have been so unremarkable in many ways, the shriek falling from his lips halted in progress as a strong hand took hold of his arm, tugging him back onto dry land before any harm could befall him.

“Thank you, oh,  _thank you_ , you have no idea what kind of trouble I would have been in had I turned up to the coronation dripping wet and covered in sea greens!” Blaine gushed, turning to face the kind soul who had saved him, his next breath catching in his throat. 

“I hate to imagine,” the stranger smiled, his hazel eyes warm as he made sure he was settled on the solid ground with two firm hands squeezing his arms, before letting him go. “A disaster of indescribable proportions?”

Blaine chuckled softly, tucking a stray curl behind his ear, self conscious of the bright streak that he knew would be visible in amongst the darker shade. “Something like that,” he agreed, letting out a small sigh as he gazed up at the stranger. 

“Forgive me,” the man said suddenly, shaking his head a little, his smile widening to reveal a row of pearly white teeth. “How I could be so rude. My name is Prince Hunter, of the Southern Isles. And you?” He lifted Blaine’s hand to his lips, placing a kiss to the back of it.  
“Me?” Blaine murmured vaguely, colour rising to his cheeks as he came to from his hazy daydream. “Prince Blaine. Of Arrendelle.” He gestured around him with an explanatory flick of his wrist, smiling at him gently. 

The sound of bells chimed in the distance, marking that the ceremony was about to begin.   
“Prince Blaine, who may be very late?” Hunter teased, nodding in the direction of the hillside. “I know I am, at any rate.”

“Yes,” Blaine squeaked, clapping a hand over his mouth. “Very,  _very_  late.”  
Late he might have been, but he slipped into the cathedral unnoticed, well in time to see his sister be crowned the Queen of Arrendelle, the jewels glistening on the top of her head as she turned, scepter in hand.

She seemed nervous, somehow, Blaine noticed from her gait, her movements somewhat jerky and apprehensive. The only smile that graced her face was when she turned back from placing the kingdom’s jewels back down again, looking upon them for the first time as a Queen of her people.

Blaine kept watching her as the ceremony became festivities, spreading throughout the town as they progressed back towards the castle, which had been thoroughly prepared in the time they had been gone for the influx of the day’s guests. She seemed to relax as the party grew and continued, the ballroom floor finally getting the use it had always craved, the boards almost creaking in pleasure, swirls of colour mixing around and around. 

He watched as she tensed momentarily at every guest who approached her with their congratulations, her hands never leaving the chastely folded position at the level of her waist. A simple bow of her head, a few quiet words in response, and they would move on, satisfied at least that they had not offended their Queen in any way.  

Blaine had no way of knowing quite how Rachel would react when it was him approaching her. The girl who had once been his best friend, more a stranger than even a sibling at that point. He had spent years of his life trying to regain what he was sure they had once had, even if it all of it was wrapped up in memories he couldn’t quite place, and the inevitability of getting rejected all over again cut deep into his gut. 

But he held his head high, taking a step forward and offering a tentative nod.   
“Blaine,” Rachel said with a soft grin. “You look wonderful.”  
He beamed back at her, all inhibitions falling to the wayside as he leaned over to kiss her cheek gently. “As do you, sister. Radiant, even.”

A man in fine evening dress approached, and Rachel brushed his arm lightly in a gesture of goodwill as she turned from him. However, Blaine’s attention had been stolen anyway, by the lingering, handsome figure of Prince Hunter, who stood to one side, smiling across the room at him.

Blaine began to cross the room at the same time that Hunter did, the two meeting somewhere in the middle as the next waltz began, a strong arm wrapping around his waist. For the first time in his life, Blaine was grateful for the years of dance lessons, that he’d been deeming as nothing but pointless and a painful waste of time for every single minute. Even so, Hunter seemed effortless in leading him, leaving Blaine little more to do than try and keep up, and do his best not to get entirely lost in the cavern of the taller man’s eyes. 

There seemed to be no tiring of his company, either, even when their feet grew sore from dancing and they decided rather to take a short tour of the castle. Blaine’s energy peaked as he realised his opportunity to see all of his favourite places within the walls as if for the first time again, watching as Hunter’s face lit up at each one.

The balcony on the Northern most turret of the castle, Hunter liked the best.   
“You can see the entire kingdom from here,” he laughed in disbelief, his strong hands wrapped around the railings of the balcony, a kind of inexplicable fiery passion in his eyes as he looked out over the landscape.   
“You can,” Blaine agreed, sighing as he moved to his side. “Although it is a far nicer view when there is someone by your side. When you’re alone, it can make you feel rather..small. Isolated.”

“Well,” Hunter murmured softly, wrapping his arms around Blaine and bringing him back against his chest, hands placed lightly over his forearms. “You  _are_  a little on the shorter side.”

Blaine tilted his head up, away from the beauty of his kingdom and the lights the stars and the moon were providing, taken by something he’d couldn’t quite put a name to, something he wasn’t sure he’d ever really felt before. He’d dreamed of men before, men who could hold him or kiss him, men to fall asleep next to who might make the nights a little less long and cold. But never had he had an opportunity like this, where all he wanted to do was to lean up onto his toes and press a kiss to Hunter’s waiting lips. 

He cleared his throat, turning back towards the scenery. He wasn’t sure if that was proper, to kiss this man who was nothing more than an acquaintance, a dance partner. Especially as he was the Prince, and Hunter was one too, of his own realm.

“Prince Blaine, I apologize if this is a little presumptuous of me, but there is something I must ask you.”   
All the warning Blaine received, before Hunter dropped to one knee by his side, offering up not a ring but both of his hands. An action of unity that made Blaine’s heart flutter warmly in his chest. 

The euphoria lasted throughout it all, throughout him asking the question and Blaine accepting, a tight hug and a moment in which he thought Hunter might kiss him, but didn’t, and right down back to the ballroom.

Blaine tugged Hunter through the crowds of people, excusing himself for the toes he stepped on and people he disrupted in their conversations, intent on getting to Rachel to tell her the good news. Hunter maintained that they should ask for her blessing, too, that it was only right, especially given that it was the day of her coronation, too. Blaine considered that nothing more than formality, sure that Rachel would only be as delighted as he had been when Hunter had asked him out on the balcony. 

But apparently it was not to be so, Rachel’s mouth pinching into a tight line as Blaine bounded up to her with Hunter at his side, before he’d even uttered so much as a word.   
“Queen Rachel,” Hunter began, straightening up and looping his arm through Blaine’s. “I come to ask your blessing, to be married to your younger brother.”  
“He means me,” Blaine added in a whisper, the excitement getting to his head as the bubbles in the champagne had earlier.

Rachel blinked a few times, looking between the two of them. “Married?” she echoed, a laughter of disbelief falling from his lips. “You two want to get  _married.”_  She folded her arms across her chest, raising a condescending eyebrow in Blaine’s direction. “What on earth do you know about marriage, Blaine?”

Blaine huffed, coming across a little as the petulant child he was striving not be after his sister’s reaction. “I know enough. And I know that I love Hunter.”  
“Love,” Rachel spat, throwing a filthy glare in Hunter’s direction. “You don’t know the first thing about love, Blaine. You’re a child.”

“I know more than you,” Blaine hissed, glancing around to make sure they hadn’t drawn any attention to themselves with their little spat. “All you know how to do is to push people away, to hurt them! And you have the nerve to tell  _me_  that I know nothing about love.”

Rachel sighed, closing her eyes for a moment as if recovering herself before she spoke up again. “You asked for my blessing, and I’m saying no,” she said calmly, her jaw set. She stepped forward as if to move past them, but found Blaine blocking their way.   
“Rachel, I’ve never asked you for anything, please-” Blaine whispered, his eyes shining with crushed hopes and tears threatening to spill over.

“Blaine, get out of my way,” Rachel muttered, anger flaring up as her brother persistently stood his ground, it taking an actual pressure of force to move him out of the way.   
“Rachel, stop!” Blaine cried after her, the emotion raw in his voice as he pressed after her. 

“No!” She yelled, turning, her hand lashing out, and bringing a wave of cold over every guest in the room as a barrier of sharp, jagged icicles rose out of nowhere between her and them. She froze, herself, her eyes wild as she realized what she had done, her feet tangling in her dress as she stumbled backwards, away from the chaos she had caused.

Blaine lunged for a sword from a nearby wall decoration - a family heirloom that he probably shouldn’t even have been touching, no doubt - shattering the top of part of the ice, throwing it down before taking off after his sister with cries of her name. But she had a head start, and he could only watch in horror as ice formed up in wake. The courtyard soon became treacherous with the patches of ice here and there, the fountain stopped in its movements, rising and looming over the front of the castle grounds threateningly. 

A baby was crying, men were shouting, faces, so many faces turning then to Blaine for guidance. He looked right back, helplessly, any semblance of support returning only when Hunter made it back to his side. 

“I have to go after her,” he declared softly, his teeth chattering as he shook from the cold that seemed to have been left behind from his sister’s vanishing act. “Someone fetch me a horse, and my cloak,” he called out, little gasps of surprise coming from the onlookers. 

“Blaine, it’s too dangerous, I’ll come with you,” Hunter murmured, cupping his cheek with one hand.   
“No,” the shorter man replied firmly, throwing a grateful smile behind him as his cloak was fastened around his shoulders. “I place Arrendelle in your capable hands, until I can bring my sister home. I know it is a lot to ask, but-”

“I’ll do it,” Hunter interrupted him, determination in his eyes as he helped Blaine onto his horse, a lingering kiss pressed to the palm of his hand. “Arrendelle is safe with me. I promise.”

Blaine looked up from his fiancé, turning his attention to the people who were still waiting on him to guide them, as the leader he was supposed to be for them in that moment. “I apologize for what you have had to bear witness to this evening, but I assure you there is an explanation. Allow me to talk to Queen Rachel, and meanwhile Prince Hunter will be here to care for you.” A small cheer went up from the crowd, a flush ghosting over his cheeks before he patted his horse’s main, taking off over the bridge. 

It would not be hard to follow the path Rachel had made, the icy trail shining in the moonlight and guiding his way towards the hills. The years of isolation were at the forefront of Blaine’s mind as he approached the woods, his horse slowing tentatively as he stepped through the snow that had fallen thick over the lands thanks to his sister. 

Everything had to begun to fit together within his mind, from the moment he had seen the incredible and apparently unlimited power spark from Rachel’s fingertips. Old forgotten memories stirring, less of a haze than before but still largely indecipherable. 

He started on the horse’s back at the howl of wolves from somewhere deep inside of the forest, and the animal felt it, whining as it kicked up its heels, sending Blaine spiraling into the thankfully soft snow with a cry. He wiped the cold substance from his eyes, looking up just in time to see his horse turning on its heels and galloping back the way they’d came, with no regard for the man he had abandoned behind him.

Blaine shuddered as the snow began to seep through his thin clothing, determinedly pulling himself to his feet and trudging forward, propelled onwards by the sight of a cabin not too far away, smoke billowing from the chimney pipe invitingly. 

He had always been one to have faith in people; and no less so with the strangers that lived in that cabin. He was confident that they would invite him in, allow him to warm up and dry off, maybe provide him with some fresh clothes.

The need for which became increasingly more important as he lost his footing, tree roots hidden beneath the snow becoming his literal downfall, falling forward a few steps into a stream, that was nearly frozen over from the sudden cold. 

The cold was like a smack to his body, his clothing heavy with the icy water as he stumbled the last few steps up the small hill towards the cabin, the smell of cinnamon and fresh birch branches in the air. 

The door creaked open, a beaming, round man sitting behind the counter, wrapped up safely in his various woolens, even though it was far warmer inside the cabin than it was out in the impending blizzard.   
“Our winter stock is at the back,” the man pointed out helpfully, gesturing to the back wall of the cabin, lined with a sparse amount of supplies.

But Blaine spotted, amongst the pick axes and other tools that he wouldn’t know what the first thing to do with them was, a pile of winter clothing, a pair of tattered looking brown boots next to it. He quickly discovered it all to be a little big for him, but he was positive that rolling up the hems was a minor sacrifice to make to mean he could once more be warm and dry. 

His soaked clothes still sticking to his body were not helped by the surprise blast of cold air as the door opened and shut once more, Blaine turning to spy a tall, well built man, covered almost head to toe in snow. He loomed an intimidatingly large figure over the small cabin, his boots practically making the walls shake as he walked over to the counter, hoisting up onto it a collection of unidentifiable implements, juxtaposed by a large bunch of carrots. 

“I’m just finishing up with this young fellow,” the owner said politely, gesturing to Blaine.  
Blaine took a tentative step closer to the counter, laying out the appropriate amount of coins, tucking the remainder into his pocket, his gaze fixed, however, on the strange man who had entered. His green eyes fixed onto Blaine, just visible between his hat and the scarf covering half of his face, the flecks of gold in them somehow familiar to him.   
“Have we met before?” Blaine asked softly, a frown crinkling the corners of his eyes.   
The man squinted at him, before shaking his head firmly. 

“Twenty for you,” the owner prompted of the man, drawing his gaze away from the young Prince and back over the counter.   
“ _Twenty?_  I’ll give you ten, you thief.”  
The owner’s face blackened, his shoulders stiffening as he squared up to him. 

Blaine hesitated in where he’d been about to make for the door, it being in his nature to want to diffuse the bad tension that was settling between the two men. “Here,” he offered quickly, digging in his pocket for a few more coins. “Let me.”  
“I don’t want your money,” the man snarled at him, slamming down the ten that he had and  grabbing just the axe from his collection before stomping back out of the door.   
The owner tutted, his face returning to its usual shade and temperament, his beady eyes fixed onto Blaine. “Is there anything else I can do for you?”

The younger man glanced over the remaining wares on the table, before determinedly setting down the money, despite the objections he had received before, scooping up the goods. Whether it was the lingering feeling that he somehow knew the man, or simply just because he couldn’t bear to not help someone in need, he wasn’t sure, but nevertheless Blaine breathed a sigh of relief when he found the other just outside, hitching up the leathers binding his reindeer to his sleigh. 

“I doubt he’d accept returns,” Blaine said pointedly as he set the goods down onto his sleigh, as if challenging him to try and turn them down.  
The man sighed, giving barely a nod of thanks before turning back to his work. “And I suppose you’ll be wanting something in return for that.”

Blaine bit his lip, looking out over the woods, and beyond, where the slope rose to the North Mountain, the winter blanket extending that far and perhaps even further. This man was bound to know the area better than he did, at least enough to be able to offer some idea of where he might be able to find his sister. 

“You haven’t..seen a Princess wandering around these parts, have you? A Queen, in fact.” Blaine pointed to his head, vaguely gesturing the shape of a crown to help him.   
The man raised an eyebrow, his incredulous expression obvious even in the low evening light. “No Queens around here, Killer,” he sneered, shaking his head and muttering something indecipherable under his breath. “Comedians, maybe, on top of that mountain making it like this in July. Do you know how hard it is to sell ice when people can get it for free outside of their front doors?”

Blaine reached out to touch the man’s arm, scrambling backwards as he shook him off violently. “Wait, did you say the mountain? Something about the mountain?”  
“Really? That’s all you got out of what I just said.”  
Blaine flushed a little beneath his furs and woolens, wrapping his arms around himself. “I just need to find my sister,” he murmured, by way of an explanation. 

The man looked at him carefully, his expression softening before he nodded slowly. “Your family is- important to you?”  
Blaine laughed sadly, looking down at the imprints his feet had made in the snow before back up at the man. “She’s all I have left.”

“I could probably use the company,” was all the response he got, before he was being roughly guided into the sleigh, the man’s tall frame slipping in next to him. “Sebastian,” he clarified.  
“Blaine,” the other replied, giving him a soft smile as the wind whipped around them, the rungs of the sleigh skating forward through the snow. 

*

It seemed Sebastian was a man of few words, his gaze and concentration focused out ahead of them, navigating the sleigh through the trees and further up into the densest part of the woods. And when he did talk, it seemed only to criticise Blaine for one thing or another. 

“What do you mean you got engaged to a man you just met?” Sebastian cried in distaste. “If I were your sister, I would have run up the mountain as fast as I could, too.”  
A short while later, as Blaine strove to get a little more comfortable in the hard wood of the sleigh. “Get your feet off the front like that, that’s fresh lacquer. Were you raised in a barn?” he hissed, spitting onto the wood and scrubbing off the invisible marks left behind by Blaine’s feet with his sleeve. 

The night was reaching its darkest point by the time the edge of the trees came into view, the howling of the wolves that Blaine had pointedly been trying to ignore becoming increasingly present. 

Sebastian’s reindeer clearly noted their presence, too, his little legs propelling them faster and faster up the slope, Blaine falling silent as he focused on holding onto the sleigh that he was slipping back and forth in, with every intention of not ending up knee deep in the snow all over again. 

Blaine turned his gaze out over the trees, shrieking as he saw a pair of glowing eyes staring back at him, pressing his side into Sebastian’s for some semblance of safety from the beasts lurking in the trees.   
“Just hold on,” Sebastian whispered, wrapping an arm around his shoulders, his teeth gritted as he sped them up, hurtling towards the edge of an upcoming dip between the cliffs.

“Oh no, oh no, oh no,” Blaine mumbled, squeezing his eyes shut. He should have listened to Hunter, he should have stayed at the castle, he should never have ended up in a moving vehicle with an obvious _madman._

He pried one eye open as he felt them batter down onto solid ground once more, the sound accompanied by the cracking off wood, narrowly avoiding some of the sharper edges as he rolled off into the snow with a sigh. Blaine looked over at Sebastian, noting his forlorn expression as he looked over the wreckage that had once been his sleigh, further pieces tipping down over the edge of the cavern and into the abyss. 

“This is your fault,” Sebastian muttered, huffing as he tugged himself to his feet before offering Blaine a hand.   
“I’ll buy you a new one?” Blaine offered, touched by Sebastian’s attempt at chivalry as he, in turn, promised he would continue to guide him in his journey towards the summit. 

They entered side by side into the less dense part of the woods, the reindeer trailing behind them with the occasional snort accompanying their footfalls. Blaine looked up over the barren trees, gloved fingers trailing over the icicles that had formed over the branches, clinging to the ends like drops of water frozen in time. 

“Beautiful, isn’t it?”  
Sebastian’s voice startled Blaine somewhat, as he turned his head up to him to nod in agreement, the two of them sharing a smile, as if a secret had just passed between them.   
“Ice is incredible. Dangerous and terrifying, even, but. Simply incredible.”

The silence settled once more over them as they continued their ascent upwards, but it felt more comfortable than it had initially in their journey. Sebastian remained a constant presence at Blaine’s side, too, catching his arm each and every time that he stumbled in the snow drifts, and guiding him towards the safest path as they reached the steepest part of their journey.

Blaine had to stop to catch his breath as they reached the peak of the mountain, and not just due to the climb. A palace rose before him, each plane and curve made from ice, shining in the light of the dawn, impossibly tall and strong where it stood inset into the mountain’s original foundation. Sebastian seemed equally as awed, his hands smoothing gracefully over each notch of the bannister as they made their way towards the front doors.

“Maybe you should wait here,” Blaine suggested as he made to knock. “Just while I talk to her.”  
Sebastian just nodded dumbly, settling down onto the top step of the stairs, his gaze still fixed on the peaks of each turret, mesmerised by the construction he was sitting at the foot of. 

Blaine knocked on the door gently, easing it open a moment later, the cold against his palm sending a shiver down his spine. “Rachel?” he called out, the sound echoing around in circles, culminating in the centre of the room as his sister appeared down the grand staircase, a long ice blue dress trailing behind her. 

“Rachel,” Blaine breathed, rushing towards her, pausing as he saw that she moved back to maintain a little distance between them. “Rachel, I’m so glad you’re not hurt.”  
His sister smiled at him sadly, shaking her head. “Blaine, you shouldn’t have come. You belong in Arrendelle; I wish I could, too, but I don’t.”

Blaine nodded, trying to ignore the crushing feeling in his chest. “I understand, I do. If you want to stay here. But… But the people need you,” he hinted pointedly, gesturing towards the door. “At least to bring back the summer, if that is your only act as Queen.”

Rachel frowned, tilting her head at him in question. “Bring back the summer? I don’t understand.” She started as the front doors creaked open once more, Sebastian’s inquisitive face appearing from the outdoors.

“I know you said wait outside but I had to see-” He paused as he looked between the siblings, sensing that he was intruding on something.  
“And who is this?” Rachel asked, her tone cold and suspicious.   
“It doesn’t matter who this is,” Blaine said quickly, shooting Sebastian a glare. “What matters is what’s outside of that door.”

Rachel laughed bitterly, running a hand through her long hair. “Whatever is out there is nothing that can be fixed by me. I’ll only make it worse, Blaine, please. Please just leave me be.”

Blaine opened his mouth, before snapping it shut again, frustration building up through his gut. “You have to  _try!_  Rachel, please, if that’s all I ask.”  
_I’ve never asked you for anything._

Rachel shook her head at him sadly, wrapping her arms around herself and turning from him. “Leave, Blaine. Leave and don’t ever come back.”  
“No! I won’t, I will stay here until you-” He was cut off as Rachel whirled around, ice shooting unconsciously from the palm of her hand, hitting him square in the chest.

Blaine fell to the floor, feeling as if the tiniest of ice crystals were inching their way up his skin, making him shake and shudder from the inside out.   
“Blaine!” Sebastian cried, running to him, sliding slightly on the iced floor. He lifted a hand to his hair, twisting in the single fair curl as several more shot out from the roots of his hair.   
“What?” Blaine asked shakily, managing a faint smile. “Does it look..bad?”

Sebastian chuckled softly, shaking his head a little and turning his head just in time to see Rachel slamming the door shut to the upper levels, her footsteps disappearing behind her. “I think I know someone who can help you,” he murmured, hooking one arm around his shoulders and the other beneath his knees, lifting him from the ground. “Just stay with me, Blaine.”

*

The journey seemed so much longer than the one they had already undertaken, even though Blaine never had to step a foot on the ground throughout all of it, simply listening to the soft puffs of Sebastian’s breath as he carried him through the snow. He must have dozed in and out, too, for he found Sebastian awaking him as he set him down on the ground, looping an arm tightly around his waist. 

“I apologize in advance for my family, but I promise they’ll be able to help,” Sebastian murmured to him, guiding him forward, his actions so much more gentle than they had been just the previous evening when they had met.   
Blaine laughed weakly, another spark of cold running through him. “They can’t be worse than mine.”

His eyes shot open, a startled cry falling from his lips as the boulders around him began to shake and shudder, transforming so suddenly into hundreds of small people -  _trolls?_  - blinking up at him curiously. A yell of exultation went up from the group, all of them crowding around Sebastian excitedly, more than a few interested glances being thrown in Blaine’s direction. 

Blaine felt his legs giving out, the cold taking over as far as his fingertips, luckily hitting what he knew by then as the familiarity of Sebastian’s arms, rather than the ground. He heard voices over his head, the words drifting in and out of his consciousness.

_True love’s first kiss._

“Sebastian,” he mumbled, clinging to his arm desperately.  
The man nodded at him seriously, hoisting him firmly up into his arms again. “Don’t worry, Blaine. I’ll get you back to your fiancé.”  
Blaine frowned, but nodded, burying his face into the warmth of Sebastian’s chest, breathing in wood smoke and moss.

*

Blaine heard the crackle of the fire before he felt any traces of the heat hitting his skin, dragging his eyes open with the expectation that he would come to with Sebastian in front of him again. But, rather, it was Hunter there, cupping his face in one hand with concern etched across his features.

“I’ll take care of him,” he said to someone behind Blaine’s head, the door clicking shut.  
The hand slipped from his face, Hunter tearing away the blanket that had been draped around Blaine’s shoulders, despite the other man’s cry of protest. 

“Oh, Blaine. Poor, innocent, Blaine. If you’d made this any easier, it wouldn’t even have been much fun.” Hunter cackled, shaking his head as Blaine tried his best to turn his head up to look at him.  
“What are you-? No, Hunter, please, just.”  _True love’s first kiss._  “Kiss. Kiss me.”

Hunter knelt down beside him, looking at him pityingly. “True love’s first kiss, Blaine? They told me that was what you needed.” He leaned in close, breathing out over Blaine’s lips before pulling back sharply. “It’s a shame I can’t give that to you.” He stood up, pacing over the room, the footsteps echoing softly on the carpet. “It’ll be a tale they’ll talk of for years. Of the mad Queen Rachel, and Prince Blaine who tried to save her, the kingdom, his people. Who died so tragically, leaving only Prince Hunter, whom he’d so thankfully been able to wed before his terrible death.”

Hunter waved his hand, straightening out his jacket. “But, of course, the details may be taken down later. All you need to know, my  _love_ , is that this is where your story ends.” He blew him a kiss with another laugh. “Farewell, Prince Blaine.”

Blaine raised his head helplessly, trying to cry out but no sound would fall from his frozen lips. Outside of the window, he could see the swirl of a blizzard rising up over the lake that had been frozen solid by the powerful magic, flashes of blue sparking throughout it all.

“Rachel?” Blaine whispered, a breath of hope fluttering through his usually fiery heart. His fingers dug into the carpet as he tried to drag himself forward, towards the window, beating the clasp open with his clenched fist. His body curled in on itself as the cold air hit him, a sob tumbling from his lips, but he refused to give up. They could carry his cold, dead body away only when he had seen his sister once more. 

And what of Sebastian? What had Hunter done with him?  
“I owe him a sleigh,” Blaine muttered in determination, tumbling forward out of the window and into the snow drifts that carried him all the way down to the lake. He cried out his sister’s name, hearing it whip around in the wind, mixing in with what he was sure were shouts of his own name, too.

Just as he was sure his body was going to give way once more, strong arms caught him, a pair of green eyes fixing onto his in concern.  
“Sebastian,” Blaine sighed in relief, peering into the snowstorm helplessly. “Rachel? Is she-?”

“Blaine, you’re ice cold, please, we have to get you inside, we have to-”   
Blaine shook his head, pressing a hand to his lips to silence him. “All I need you to do is keep catching me when I fall,” he joked limply, dragging his feet forward with Sebastian still supporting the majority of his weight.  
Sebastian laughed in disbelief, holding him more firmly. “Always.”

Through the blizzard, he saw the royal colours of Hunter’s uniform, his sister’s scream howling along with the wind. Stirring the last embers of energy he had left, Blaine stumbled forward, out of Sebastian’s grasp, freezing solid before Hunter just in time to block the fall of the blade of his sword.

He could feel the life draining from him, but through it all, a warmth over his shoulders, a press of something to his cheek, a hand on his. It came back as a rush, so powerful that he toppled all over again, straight into the awaiting arms of Sebastian. 

“You told me to keep catching you,” Sebastian whispered, their bodies bobbing a little as the ship beneath them rushed with heat, the damp decking supporting their weight.  
“Blaine, you’re alright,” Rachel sobbed into his shoulder, her hands clutching him desperately.

Blaine nodded a little, noting that for the first time in all that he could remember, Rachel felt warm beside him. Real. He looked out across the land before them as the flush of green spread over the scenery, taking away the cold and the ice with it. He cupped Rachel’s head in one hand, stroking her hair gently, as Sebastian kept an arm tightly around his waist, even where all three of them were sitting in a heap on the decking. 

The Prince heard a splash of water, looking up in time to see Hunter hauling himself over the side of the ship, soaked head to toe, droplets dripping pathetically down his cheekbones. Blaine narrowed his eyes at him, gently disentangling him from Rachel and Sebastian, confidence rushing through him as he realized he could stand unaided again. Without so much as a word towards his actions, Blaine brought his fist back and slammed it into the side of Hunter’s face, sending him right back into the water. 

Rachel giggled from behind him, clapping a hand over her mouth to try and muffle the sound. “I think this calls for another celebration.”

*

Blaine straightened out his suit, glancing across the room at where Sebastian was hovering near the ice sculpture, tapping his fingers idly along the base, chewing on his lower lip in thought.

“You look to be in your element, once again,” Blaine murmured as he approached him, brushing his fingers over the back of Sebastian’s wrist gently.   
Sebastian shrugged unashamedly, turning his hand so that their fingers laced together for a moment before they let them drop again.

“You should look out of the window,” Blaine advised, moving them away from the ball that was going on around them towards the wide windows, overlooking the courtyard. There, in almost pride position, sat a shiny new sleigh, decorated in the most intricate of carvings and freshly lacquered all over.

“Is that? For me?” Sebastian breathed, a kid at Christmas as he pressed his hands to the glass, his nose pushing up against it, his breath leaving a cloud of fog behind. “I could kiss you!” He exclaimed, turning and picking Blaine up off the floor, twirling him in his arms. “I mean, I won’t. But I could. I’d like to? May I? May  _we?”_

Blaine chuckled, scrunching up his nose at Sebastian’s fumbling, slightly dizzy by the time he was placed on the ground again, his hands cupping the taller man’s cheeks. “We may,” he whispered, the tips of their noses bumping together before their lips joined, fire racing from the touch down to the tips of Prince Blaine’s toes. 


End file.
